The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) is cracking down on rule-breaking vape adverts by issuing a notice to advertisers, and launching focused monitoring to find and ban problem ads.
The notice is being sent to e-cigarette manufacturers and retailers who do not comply with rules which prevent the direct or indirect marketing of of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes that are not medicine.
Following a notice issued last year, manufacturers and retailers were required to take down paid-for vape promotions from TikTok.
The new notice extends this requirement to those who promote e-cigarettes via paid-for posts or in non-paid-for posts on public accounts, including Instagram, Facebook, and the short-form video platform.
Where the adverts are allowed, including a few spaces such as company websites, they must not be targeted to appeal to under 18s, and most only contain factual claims about the products.
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest agency-related news sent straight to your inbox each morning
The regulator will use its AI-driven Active Ad Monitoring system to help identify offending adverts, with advertisers issued with a notice given until 28 March to ensure that their vape ads are compliant.
“The law prohibits e-cigarette ads appearing on most social media accounts, so it’s simply unacceptable for companies to advertise in these spaces. AI-assisted monitoring tells us that these companies are typically small traders promoting e-cigarettes through their social media accounts or incentivising others to do so, most likely in ignorance of our rules and the law,” said CAP secretary Shahriar Coupal.
He added: “Our Enforcement Notice leaves traders in no doubt about their obligations under both and makes clear that e-cigarette promotions through social media channels need to stop. For those that fail to do so, we and our enforcement partners won’t hesitate to do so.”
Previous vape adverts which have been banned include an Elfbar ad which appeared on London buses and was banned on the grounds of greenwashing, after the ASA deemed it to have made misleading claims about recycling.
